(CBS) The bad part about web browsing is the sometimes agonizingly slow AT&T Edge network that the phone forces you to use unless you happen to have wireless WiFi access. AT&T has two cell phone data networks: The slow Edge network and a much faster 3G network. When I tested the phone out in front of the Apple store, it sometimes took minutes for pages to load. At one point I had a web page loading race with a friend of who was using a Blackberry on AT&T's 3G network. A page that took him 20 seconds to load took more than a minute on the iPhone.

To be fair, that hasn't been my experience 100% of the time. There were a few times during my few hours of testing where I have been able to get reasonable web performance. The problem could be network congestion. I'll need to spend more time with the iPhone before reaching any final conclusions but my initial impressions of browsing on the cellular network are less than positive. Fortunately, the phone also works with WiFi networks and now that I'm at home wirelessly connected to my fast cable modem, pages are loading at truly broadband speed.

I give the phone high marks when it comes to email. Although you can use it with virtually any POP3 or IMAP email account (which means it should work with most corporate email systems that don't have iron-clad firewall requirements), the iPhone works out of the box with Yahoo Mail, Gmail, AOL and Apple's own .mac mail service. With each of these services you simply enter your user name and password once and let the iPhone's software handle the rest. It took me under 2 minutes to start getting and responding to my Gmail.

Getting around the phone is easy. While there are very few physical keys on the phone, I quickly found the Home button which takes you back to the home screen where you can access any of the phone's features.

Activating the iPhone was easier than expected. First, you have to download the latest version of iTunes (7.3) and then you simply plug the iPhone into the USB port of your PC or Mac. I activated and synced it with a Windows Vista laptop. You have to select a service plan and give it some basic account information including your social security number but the process took me about 10 minutes, plus another two minutes of waiting for the AT&T server to validate my account. Once it was done, it presented me with my new phone number and the phone just worked. Frankly, it was faster than waiting for a sales clerk at a cellular store. Having said that, I've already seen some blog postings from people who have not been able to activate their phones, so what went smoothly for me was apparently troublesome for others.

Steve Jobs has called the iPhone the best iPod ever and there is no reason to doubt that. Like all iPods, you can sync music, video and photos from your PC or Mac and display album art. I put a few albums on the phone but haven't had time to fully explore the iPod features.

I was able to sync the iPod with Microsoft Outlook, which is great – I now have contact information for more than 1,500 people stored on the phone with easy access to email addresses directly from the mail program. You can also sync the iPhone Outlook Express on Windows and Address Book and Entourage on a Mac.

It's too early in the review process to give this phone a definitive thumbs up or down but I think it's fair to say that for those who have plenty of extra cash and the desire to live on the bleeding edge of technology, owning an iPhone will truly be an interesting experience. For everyone else – my preliminary thought is that it's probably best to wait awhile.

Even though there were plenty of people lined up to pay $499 or $599 to be among the first to own an iPhone, it remains a very expensive gadget that you've managed to live without so far. It's very cool, it's fun and it's oh so very chic. But as innovative as it is, my practical nature tells me that it's not worth skimping on groceries or dipping into your kids' college fund.

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A syndicated technology columnist for over two decades, Larry Magid serves as on air Technology Analyst for CBS Radio News. His technology reports can be heard several times a week on the CBS Radio Network. Magid is the author of several books including "The Little PC Book."

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